Sasha Wells heading to the SEC

Sasha Wells, who excelled athletically as junior for The Bahamas, and stood out collegiately for the Oral Roberts University (ORU) Golden Eagles, is taking her talents to Gainesville.

Wells, a sprinter and hurdler, will complete her collegiate eligibility for the Florida Gators which compete in the tough Southeastern Conference (SEC) in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Florida’s women have won one indoor national title and 14 conference titles – eight indoor and six outdoor. The men have won nine national titles.

Wells is currently in her senior season at ORU but still has a year of eligibility remaining due to the shortened season a year ago. The NCAA Division I indoor and outdoor national track and field championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the NCAA released a statement informing that the decision was based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat and to ensure that NCAA events do not contribute to the spread of the pandemic.

As for Wells, she has been a stellar athlete at ORU.

The 21-year-old Bahamian holds school records in the 60m hurdles indoors (8.30 seconds) and 100m hurdles outdoors (13.39 seconds).

She thrived in her junior year, winning two conference titles indoors for the second consecutive year, and adding two silver medals. Wells was the 2019-20 Summit League Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, the 2020 Summit League Indoor Championships Most Outstanding Performer and a five-time Summit League Track Athlete of the Week.

She claimed indoor conference titles in the 60m and 60m hurdles for the second consecutive year. Additionally, she was second in the 200m and a part of the silver medal winning 4x400m relay team indoors.

In 2019, as a sophomore, Wells excelled indoors and outdoors. She won both the indoor and outdoor most outstanding performer award at the respective conference championships and was the 2018-19 Summit League Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. In addition to winning the 60m and 60m hurdles indoors, she finished third in the 200m. Outdoors, she was the champion in the 100m, 100m hurdles and was a part of the 4x100m winning team. She finished second in the 200m.

The previous year as a freshman, on the conference level, she finished second in the 60m hurdles indoors and was third in the 100m hurdles outdoors.

Wells was an NCAA Outdoor West Preliminaries qualifier in 2018 and again in 2019, both in the 100m hurdles. She didn’t finish that event in 2018 and was 19th overall in 13.59 seconds in 2019.

Academically, Wells qualified for the 2020 CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-District Team and was on the academic all-conference team in both 2019 and 2020 indoors and outdoors. She was on the Summit League Honor Roll the previous year.

Wells represented The Bahamas on numerous CARIFTA teams, finishing sixth in the 100m hurdles in the under-18 division in Fort-de-France, Martinique, in 2014; finishing fifth in the 100m hurdles in the under-18 division in Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis, in 2015; winning silver in the 100m hurdles and silver with the 4x100m relay team in the under-18 division in St. George’s, Grenada, in 2016; winning silver with the 4x100m relay team and finishing fourth in the 100m hurdles in the under-20 division in Willemstad, Curaçao, in 2017; and winning bronze in the 100m hurdles and a silver with the 4x100m relay team in the under-20 division in Nassau, The Bahamas, in 2018.

She also represented The Bahamas as a member of: the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Youth Championships Team in Cali, Colombia, in 2015; the IAAF World Under-20 (U20) Championships Team in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2016; and the IAAF World U20 Championships Team in Tampere, Finland, in 2018.

Wells has personal best times of 7.50 seconds in the 60m, 8.30 seconds in the 60m hurdles and 24.69 seconds in the 200m indoors, and 11.83 seconds in the 100m, 13.39 seconds in the 100m hurdles and 24.48 seconds in the 200m outdoors.

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